EASTENDERS fans were left heartbroken this evening as Abi Branning’s life support was turned off in the hugely emotional episode.

Abi (played by Lorna Fitzgerald) sadly died in this evening’s instalment after Max Branning (Jake Wood) and Tanya Cross (Jo Joyner) made the heartbreaking decision to turn off his daughter’s life support.

The youngster was declared brain dead after falling from the Queen Vic’s roof on Christmas Day.

After doctors claimed she would have “zero chance” of regaining consciousness, Max went off the rails.

Initially, he blamed himself for the tragic accident which saw both of his daughters plummet to the ground.

They were on the roof to stop him from committing suicide when they slipped and fell to the concrete.

Although Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) came out of the incident relatively unscathed, poor Abi found herself in a coma needing life support.

The family finally took the decision to end Abi’s life after fighting doctors for weeks.

In immensely tragic scenes, the devoted father came to terms with the fact that Abi would never recover and let her go. Jo Joyner was the first of the Branning clan to share her feelings on the loss of Lorna from the EastEnders’ cast.

Soap stars then and now

Fri, February 9, 2018

From EastEnders' longest running character Ian Beale, to Coronation Street's Sarah Platt, take a look and see how much these soap stars have changed.

She tweeted to her 355,000 followers: “Night, night and God Bless little Abs. Thanks for all the lovely support for us #Brannings. Good luck and see you soon wonderful, talented, beautiful @LornaFitz0 it’s been a pleasure being your pretend mummy.”Jake Wood had warned fans to expect heartbreak in the instalment before it started.He posted on Twitter: “Please be warned that tonight’s episode of #EastEnders is VERY VERY sad.”Viewers were in tears over the tragic death and flocked to Twitter to discuss the emotional episode.One wrote: “The saddest thing I've even seen on my TV screen...in 2018.”

BBC

Abi Branning passed away after her life support was turned off

BBC

The Branning family has now been torn apart form Abi's death

Another added: “Nah I can't lie eastenders was tough tonight.”

A third posted: “Literally can not stop crying at EastEnders, amazing acting from them all!”

Others were pleased that Tanya finally returned to the soap, with many fearing she would stay away.